Remove Lead From Drinking Water

Lead is a heavy metal that has been used historically in countless applications including as a paint additive, gasoline additive, and thousands of industrial applications. For this reason, lead is not hard to find in the environment. As with all environmental contaminants, they eventually find their way into the water. There are several cities in North America, including Washington D.C. that have ongoing issues with lead pollution in their municipal water supply. Since lead was the primary metal used for plumbing prior to steel and eventually copper plumbing, there are still thousands of homes across North America that still have partial lead plumbing. If this lead plumbing is exposed to acidic water conditions, lead is leached into the water supply.

Why is Lead a Problem?

Lead is poisonous. More specifically it is a toxin that affects many parts of the body including the heart, bones, intestines, kidneys, reproductive and nervous systems. It is especially toxic to young children and in high levels will interfere with the proper development of the nervous system resulting is a variety of learning and behaviour disorders.